Yankees vs. Reds

Hey everyone, so tonight's game is on YES, the only night game to be televised... anyway here's the lineup-

Gardner CF
Damon LF
Nady RF
Matsui DH
Ransom 3B
Molina C
Miranda 1B
Berroa SS
Pena 2B

...and pitching today is... Joba Chamberlain followed by Kei Igawa, Christian Garcia, Phil Coke, Mike Dunn and Anthony Claggett.

looking for big things from Kei Igawa today...NOT... i wonder if he's going to be rockin the shades.

Thanks to Peter Abraham for the lineup...

...back with updates at gametime!

Update 7:18: first pitch by Joba clocked at 91, his arm strength is still not there. second pitch grounder through the right side for a single.

Update 7:21: Molina threw out the runner at 2nd, grounder to short, and a blistering fastball on the outside corner by Joba for a K, he made it through the first!!

Update 7:24: Another hit by Gardner... let's see if he runs... i bet he does...

Update 7:26: He never got a chance... line drive bullet to first by Johnny Damon for a double play.

Update 7:30: Nasty slider by Joba to strike out Brandon Phillips, he looks alot smoother than in his last two starts.

Update 7:36: Ransom single to center scoring Hideki Matsui. 1-0 Yankees

Update 7:38: Can i just say something? Bob Lorenz and David Cone do not mesh together as announcers...

Update 8:24: Apparently Juan Miranda had a solo shot, it's 3-1 Yankees now middle of the 5th, sorry had to step away from the game for a bit.

Update 8:40: Damn... Igawa isn't rockin the shades... now i'm sad... maybe if someone homered off of him tonight, i'll feel better.

Update 8:48: The YES network was either really trippy just now, or i'm way out of it... Cody Ransom up. 3-1 Yanks.

Update 8:59: Kei Igawa is a god among men.

Update 9:11: i would pay good money to see Shelley Duncan vs. Jonny Gomes...

Update 9:12: oh... i was hoping that Jonny Gomes was in left when that ball went over the wall... that would have been some sort of payback for Shelly. 7-1 Yankees, bottom 7.

Update 9:19: Christian Garcia is a giant, and his stuff is good too.

Update 9:21: Well, google is telling me Christian Garcia is a sex offender from Mexico... uhoh... another scandal..

Update 9:25: Ok, well i forgot it was the 8th inning, and i planned to show everyone a video in the 7th inning stretch... so, c2c is starting the 8th innining nap... who needs stretching...


Notice at 5 seconds in, the same guy at the end is walking with a dick on his back...

Update 9:43: Anthony Claggett looked pretty good retiring the side in the 9th, Yanks win 7-1... im out...

Arod..

Okay this will be the last post made about Arod, I promise. For those of you who don't know Arod has elected to have surgery now and estimated to be back mid to late may assuming no setbacks (please god). First off, anyone that argues the Yankees are better without Arod because he is a distraction is an idiot. The guy slugged .573 with an OBP .392, and that was an off year for him. So what if he brings a little drama to the club house the dude can downright mash. It's not like he is getting into fights with the traveling secretary or anything (everyone looks better compared to Manny).

Anyway, let’s take a look at just how much Arod being out for a month will hurt the Yankees. To do this I'm going to use the VORP (Value over replacement level player) stat found on fan graphs. It basically measures how many wins a player is worth over a replacement level player which is essentially an average minor leaguer. Taking Arod's average VORP from the last three years it can be estimated that he will be worth about 7.4 wins. So assuming he is only out for 1/6 of the season it should only cost the Yankees about 1.3 wins.

Now here comes the tricky part, trying to factor in Cody Ransom. Everyone says he is a solid defender, but according to fan graphs he has never posted a UZR/150 (stat used to calculate how good a fielder someone is) in the positives. Keep in mind the small sample size though. Even harder to determine is just how good of a hitter he is. Last year when given the chance he did pretty good batting .302 with 4 HR's in only 43 at bats. Before last year though he was pretty mediocre, in 2004 he hit .250with 20 strike outs in only 68 at bats. Even though it’s a small sample size Cody Ransom looks to be about the equivalent of a replacement level player, maybe a little better.

Overall it doesn’t look as if the loss of Arod for 1/6th of the season should have that much of an effect on the Yankees this season. This could of course change if Arod comes back from injury slumping. Then again maybe we'll all be pleasantly surprised by Cody Ransom this coming season.

Minor Thoughts: A-Rod, WBC, Yankees

Sorry for the lack of posts in the last few days, Ace and myself were both unable to find the time to write something. I have several thoughts on a few things that have happened since our last entry.

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Alex Rodriguez has decided to have surgery, he will miss anywhere from 6-9 weeks. This was actually a smart move, whether you like it or not, had Alex played through his injury, he may have just been miserable, and possibly worsen the injury, i.e Mike Lowell last year.

But now the question remains, who will play 3B for the Yankees while he is out? There are very few options within the Yankees system to take the role, like Ransom and.... uhhh... ok Ransom is the only viable candidate i can think of.

The Yankees could make a trade for someone like Hank Blalock or Chone Figgins, two options Peter Abraham mentioned on his blog. However i would be O.K. with Cody Ransom filling in for the time period, this just means someone is going to have to pick up the slack for A-Rod. The Red Sox lost David Ortiz last year, the only reason they stayed in contention was because of JD Drew stepping up and crushing the ball while he was gone.

Players i can see taking this step... Robinson Cano, Xavier Nady or Nick Swisher. Ofcourse players like Mark Teixeira and Derek Jeter are going to have stellar numbers, but i'm saying, someone who will break out of their shell and help pick up the slack, i.e the players i listed above.

Through all the controversy with A-Rod, i still think the Yankees are destined to have a spectacular season, as long as everyone performs to their expectations...and possibly even better than expected.

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I'm slowly gaining interest in the World Baseball Classic, i have seen a few games, the USA vs. Canada, Panama vs. Puerto Rico and the Netherlands vs. the Domincan Republic.

The USA game was somewhat boring for me, i actually stopped watching to play some MLB 2k9 after the 4th inning, but i went back for the 9th to watch the ending.

There were a few things that shocked and upset me Saturday...

First, Sidney Ponson beat the Dominican Republic team...

yea... him...

Secondly, Pudge Rodriguez had two homeruns against Panama...

Wait, he was a Yankee?

Finally, Bernie Williams had one at-bat for Puerto Rico...

...and was intentionally walked...

So all in all, i was... somewhat entertained by the WBC on Saturday.

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I was going to write something else about the Yankees here, but i forgot, so here's a funny video instead...

Please ignore the first 27 seconds, i enjoy this simply for the final 5 of the video...

That poor...poor... homeless guy...

The A-rod situation

Earilier today it was reported that A-rod has a torn hip Labrum as well as a cyst in his hip. Initially it was thought that he was going to have surgery, but now it looks like he is going to try and play through it for the season and push the surgery back to the offseason...

Ok that is a lot to digest right now, a ton of things came into my mind when I heard this news. First off, I think its a good thing hes not getting the surgery now and trying to make a comeback in the middle of the season. Initial reports I read said the recovery period was only 10 weeks. I've had two friends who have had surgery for the same exact problem in the past few months. Both of them were walking around with cane's for 6 weeks and unable to fully sit down. Keep in mind these are 17 year old kids, while Arod is turning 34 in a few months.

Now, how I actually think this will play out. Arod will play most of April and May with Cody Ransom getting a start or two a week. He'll then slow down come june and probably be fully shutdown come the all-star break. At this point the Yankees will probably make a trade for a third baseman in going into free agency such as Adrian Beltre. What I'm much more worried about is how this will affect Arods future. Will he be able to continue to play third base after the surgery? Will he be able to finish his contract which still has 9 yeaers left on it? Hopefully we will hear answers to these questions soon. Man this is shaping up to be a pretty interesting season so far and it isn't even opening day yet.

If you would like to hear What Brian Cashman has to say on this situation you can go here.

MLB 2k9 review... so far...

So as most of you probably don't know, MLB 2k9 came out today, i went and got a copy right after my classes ended. MLB 2k8 didn't really have the greatest success, so 2k9 really has alot of making up to do.

The first thing i did when i got the game was play at the new Yankee Stadium, versus the Red Sox. The graphics were really good, not to say the ones in 2k8 weren't good, but 2k9 has much greater detail. I had played the demo, so i knew the controls, and beat the Red Sox 7-3 in traditional fashion, quality start from CC, brought in Veras for the 7th followed by Marte for the 8th, and ofcourse... Mariano in the 9th.

If you want to get your ass kicked in this game... feel free to email me, and we can arrange the beat down.

I don't want to bore you by talking about the game anymore, and i feel like i'm losing some of you already... so here's a guy falling off a ladder to keep you somewhat entertained...

yea... you blame those slippery floors...

A few Thoughts: Fantasy baseball, Yankee Stadium

Hey everyone, so i'm sure you've been watching the Yankees' spring training games, and you basically know everything i could talk about here, so i won't bore you.

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Anyway, i decided i'm going to make another fantasy baseball league, this one is going to be very small, so if you want to join, you HAVE to email me quickly. It's a Yahoo fantasy league, like the last one, but this time with 8 teams, head to head and a live draft. Our email is under contacts on the right hand side, gogogogo!

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If you're interested to see more of the new Yankee stadium, check here.

Thanks to reader Bill Rasmussen for the link!

Also! Over at our friend's Kevin Rozell and Bob Ruffolo's yankee blog, they have a great group of new Yankee stadium construction photos, here's the link.

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Clearly i did not deliver much of a post tonight, so how can i make it up to you? a funny video you say? OK... fine...

"This is a big horse," classic...

odds and ends

With 5 spring training games so far I feel as if we can already see a few things for this upcoming year. Keep in mind spring training stats generally mean nothing as conditions are different, I still feel as a few things can be taken away from it though

1. Melkey vs. Brett Gardner as starting center fielder- So far Brett Gardner is 5 for 10, while Melkey is 1 for 8. Ignoring all of that though Melkey looks as lost at the plate as I have ever seen him. Also, Keep in mind spring training is supposed to be easier on the hitters with most pitchers only throwing fastballs as they attempt to build arm speed. Now I am not saying that Melkey has no chance to bounce back, but as of now he looks down right awful. Brett Gardner on the other hand looks decent; even though I still don't see him as anything better than average center fielder.

2. Rejuvenated Cano- Cano definitely looks a little leaner than he did last year. So far this spring he is 5 for 9. More importantly though it looks as if his approach at the plate has improved a little. Now he does still look to have some free swinging tendencies that we all know and hate, but it doesn’t look nearly as bad as it did last year.

3. Arod is still Arod- Even amid all the steroid business, Arod is still putting up good spring training numbers. Hopefully this success can translate over to the actual season.

This upcoming season looks promising even amid all the controversy due to Arod and the steroids. The next few weeks should be fun as we get to see more of our younger players in spring training as well as the World Baseball Classic which is always a good time.